Not Alone
by DeadSparrow
Summary: Rogue has always had to rely on walls to keep others out and not just the psyches in her head but the people around her, but when an old friend of Storm's comes to the mansion he may just break down those walls, Romy
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Midnight Newcomer

No one in the mansion except for Rogue and that insomniac kid were still awake, but all the insomniac kid did was watch TV, so Rogue had no company but her own. This was okay though, she had gotten used to being by herself. Her relationship with Bobby didn't last long after Alkali Lake and Rogue knew why. Ever since he met her he had been trying to find ways around her mutation, ways to touch her to be close to her, but when he finally did touch her, when he kissed her at his house she had felt what he felt the moment her mutation kicked in. The first kiss his emotions were full of excitement and he felt victorious in being able to kiss her. His exact thoughts during that first kiss were, _this is so worth it._

Rogue would have never have tried to give him another kiss after that if he hadn't been thinking that, but he did think it, and it made her heart beat so much faster and without even thinking she kissed him again but this time with more passion. She absorbed more of him that time and she felt what he felt when her powers came on to him even stronger she heard his fearful thoughts, _let go, let go, I can't take this._ So she pulled away.

Things had changed between them since then. It wasn't Bobby's fault, not completely. He did still try, he really did. Bobby was a nice guy and he was the first to welcome her at the mansion, breaking the ice between her and the rest of the students. Even after she had absorbed Logan and freaked out the entire school he still wanted to be friends with her, and then wanted to become more. Bobby was a truly nice guy and it broke Rogue's heart to push him away, but he deserved more, and in her heart she knew he only stayed with her after that kiss out of loyalty and because he didn't want to hurt her, so she dumped him.

He still tried to be her friend after the break up. He would talk to her in class and invite her to group outings, but Rogue always refused. She hated the awkwardness of it and made a point of avoiding him, and in avoiding him she soon lost all social contact. Bobby was Rogue's only reason Rogue ever hung out with her fellow classmates. She had never been a social person in the first place anyway, and after dumping Bobby she avoided him, and his friends and everyone else for that matter. She really had become a rogue.

Rogue sighed, tired of thinking about how lonely her life had become and stared down at the book she had been reading, "The Scarlet Letter" It was a little difficult to read because it was written hundreds of years ago the English language was different, but overall thought it was good and even related a little to Hester, the main character. Aside from her born out of wedlock daughter, Hester had no one. Even though she had been reaccepted into society she was still alone and was angry and bitter about her loneliness, though no one ever saw that anger. Rogue sympathized with her.

Rogue was interrupted from her thoughts by the sound of a motorcycle in the distance. Her first thoughts were of Logan, thinking that he might have come back from Canada. He had a cabin up there he would visit every few months to think things over, and had gone there shortly after Jean's memorial.

Rogue closed her book, and headed towards the door of her room but not before slipping on her black cotton hooded robe. She had gone into the habit of wearing that robe whenever she left her room at night now. Her clothes were more of a security blanket for her than a burden like they were when she first got her powers. If she ever found a way around her powers she would still wear them like she did now.

Rogue made her way down the stairs and towards the front door. She could hear Storm's voice talking to the person whom Rogue assumed had come in on the motorcycle, and it didn't sound like Logan. They were talking in low voices, probably to keep from waking anyone else in the mansion, but Rogue was annoyed she couldn't hear what they were saying. She crept closer and watched them from a corner. Storm was still fully dressed which meant she must have expected this person and stayed up to greet him. She had a smile on her face and seemed happy to see him. When Rogue saw his face she was now positive it wasn't Logan. He was much younger than Logan and his hair was longer, plus Logan didn't wear a long brown trench coat. Rogue doubted he ever would.

"You're late Remy," she heard Storm scold in a hushed voice.

The stranger gave a quiet chuckle and pulled Storm into a hug, "Remy always be late according to y' Stormy," he said.

Storm pulled away and gave him a light push, "Remy Lebeau how many time have I told you not to call me that! And take those ridiculous sunglasses off, you don't need to hide your eyes here."

"But dey make Remy look so cool," he joked, lifting a hand to take them off.

Rogue's eyes widened and she gasped. Even though she couldn't see his face in the darkness of the mansion his eyes stood out as soon as he took the sunglasses off. They were two beautiful rings of glowing red. Rogue had never seen anything more beautiful.

The stranger's head snapped in her direction, apparently having heard her gasp. "Look like we got company non?" he said to Storm, nodding in Rogue's direction.

Storm turned and looked at Rogue in surprise, "Rogue what are you doing up?"

"Sorry," Rogue mumbled quickly. "Ah heard a motorcycle engine and Ah thought it might Logan. Sorry Ms. Munroe, Ah'll go back to bed."

"Rogue wait," Storm called after her, but Rogue had already disappeared back into the darkness of the mansion. Storm stared at the spot where Rogue had been standing and frowned.

"One of the students?" Remy asked curiously. Storm nodded. "A bit jumpy aint she?"

"Rogue," Storm sighed. She turned back to Remy and forced a smile. "You'll get to meet her and the rest of the students tomorrow, but now its time to show you your room so I can go back to bed."

"Aw Stormy y' don' wanna stay up wit dis Cajun?" he asked playfully.

Stormy gave him a playful glare and then pushed him into the direction of the boys' dormitories, quietly conversing with Remy along the way, but her thoughts were still on Rogue.


	2. The Lonely Rogue

Chapter Two

Remy was sitting in Professor Xavier's office, staring at the smiling bald man. He was now thinking the same thoughts he had thought all the four years he had once spent in this mansion, _his head is shinny_. The Professor gave an amused laugh, hearing this thought. _Thank you for noticing Gambit. My lack of hair never fails to get your attention._

Gambit grinned guiltily, "Sorry Professor," he apologized. "Y' know Gambit is easily amused."

"Indeed," the professor replied.

Behind Remy's chair stood a frowning Storm, "Remy were you thinking what I think you were thinking?"

"It's quite alright Storm," Professor Xavier said. "After having Gambit in the mansion for four years I've gotten used to it, and in a strange way I even missed it during the year that you've been gone. Which brings us to why you're here. As glad I am that you decided to return to the X-Men I am curious to why. The last time you wrote to us you were telling us the details of your upcoming wedding."

Remy shifted uncomfortably in his chair, "Well . . . things didn't go exactly as planned," he stated. He could feel Storm's interrogating eyes on him. "Y' see Belle's brother Marius wasn't exactly thrilled in welcomin' moi to de family. Especially Marius. Y' see he done start a fight at de wedding. An people got hurt, assassins as well as tieves, all cos Marius an I started fighting."

"Gambit you didn't-" Storm began bit he cut her off.

"No one was killed Stormy," Remy said defensively, almost to defensively. "But Remy was banished for N'Orleans just the same. Dere aint gonna be a wedding for awhile." Then he added under his breath, "not dat Belle would want to marry me anymore anyways."

Storm stared at Remy with a disapproving look. She never like Belle and was secretly glad he wasn't going to marry her, but that still didn't excuse the mess that came out of it. The Professor on the other hand was staring at Remy thoughtfully.

"It is indeed unfortunate to how you have come to be here," the professor said. "But we are glad just the same to have you back. The X-Men unfortunately have diminished in number since you left," he said frowning.

"Oui," Remy said sadly. "Heard about what happened with Jean. Storm told me when I called her to tell her I was coming back." Behind him, Storm's face had gone solemn and she was now gazing at the floor with a sad look.

"Both Wolverine and Cyclops left after her death," the professor went on. "That's three X-Men gone."

Remy gave the professor a puzzled look, "Who's Wolverine?"

The Professor smiled and explained, "Wolverine as fate would have it arrived along with another mutant named Rogue, the day after you left."

"Rogue?' Remy questioned. He turned to Storm, "Isn't she de one we saw last night?" Storm nodded.

"Ah, so you've already met her?" The professor asked.

"Not officially, de fille ran off befo' dere was a proper introduction."

"I see," the professor said, his lips forming a frown that matched the one Storm had on last night after Rogue had run off. _She's getting worse isn't she?_ Storm's thoughts asked. He gave Storm a sad look, _It is not so uncommon for certain mutants to alienate themselves from others, even those of their own kind,_ he said into her mind.

_You didn't answer my question,_ Storm glared.

Xavier sighed and shook his head, _She is getting worse yes. I fear she may even try to leave._ Storm looked at him in alarm.

Remy noticed the looks the professor and Storm were giving each other and knew instantly they were having a conversation without him. He coughed loudly and they both looked up at him in surprise. "Sorry t' interrupt the mind chats, but Remy really hungry and was wondering if he could go get something to eat so y' two can talk out loud while he's gone."

The professor chuckled, "Of course, forgive our rudeness Remy you may go. You remember where the cafeteria is?"

"Oui," he said heading out the door, planting a quick kiss on Storm's cheek before leaving.

Storm glared at him playfully as he closed the door behind him and shook her head. "He hasn't changed."

Xavier nodded, "Its nice to know that some things don't." His expression went dark again as he thought about Rogue.

"Do you think we should call Logan?" Storm asked. "He is the closest thing to family she has."

"Logan was distant with everyone after Jean died," the professor said. "Even Rogue. It may be harder on her if he comes back. Until he recovers from this loss he will always be distant and that will not help Rogue but possibly make it worse."

"I could talk to Bobby see if you could-"

"Bobby has already tried," the professor cut her off. "Remember she's the one who broke up with him. I've seen Bobby try to maintain friendship with her, but like with everyone else she just pushes him away."

Storm sat down in the chair Gambit had been previously sitting in and leaned her elbows on the Professor's desk. "First we lose Jean, then Wolverine and Cyclops lose themselves in their own grief, and now we might lose Rogue to herself."

xXxXx

Gambit wandered into the loud cafeteria. It was filled with students and a couple of staff chatting loudly. He saw a lot of familiar faces and even more unfamiliar faces. Some of the faces he searched for in particular were no longer there. Like Pyro, dieu he hoped Pyro was still there. That fire starter was one of the best people to go to when wanting to start a prank, but for some reason he always hung out with Ice man. Not that there was anything wrong with him, he was a nice guy, but he was too much of a goody goody. There was no fun with Ice man.

"Hey Gambit!" A voice called out to him. _Speak of the devil_, Gambit thought as he turned to see Iceman sitting at a table with a couple more students, some of whom Gambit recognized.

Gambit smiled and took his tray over there and sat down, "Well, well if it ain de popcicle," Remy said playfully shaking Iceman's held out hand.

"Good to see you Gambit," Iceman said. He motioned to the rest of the table, "You remember Kitty, Jubilee, Carol and Piotr?"

"Oui," he said winking at Jubilee and Kitty. Kitty blushed and Jubilee giggled. "Dieu dere are so many new people here now."

"Yeah you know how it is here," Iceman said. "People are always coming and going."

"Speaking of coming and going where's de pyro?" Gambit asked searching the cafeteria for him.

Bobby and the other kids at the table exchanged weird looks. "He's not here anymore," Bobby said in a low voice.

Remy raised an eyebrow, "What, he found a better school for mutants?"

Bobby's eyes darkened. "No, he found Magneto."

"What?" Remy said, his voice full of surprise and anger. "He didn't." He looked from Bobby's face to the faces of the rest of the kids at the table. "Merde!" he exclaimed. "Gambit gonna kick some sense in dat punk de next time he sees him! What he thinking goin wit Magneto?" Gambit cursed under his breath. He had been an X-Men for three of the four years he was at the mansion. He had fought Magneto, and knowing he'd probably fight Pyro once he got settled back into being an X-Men pissed him off.

"Well if your joining up again you'll probably get your chance," Kitty said.

Remy looked back up at Bobby but he was no longer paying attention to the people at the table. His gaze was directed at someone walking a few feet behind where Remy was sitting, and his dark expression changed to one of friendliness, "Hey Rogue!" He called out waving his arm to the person behind Remy.

Remy's eyes widened in surprise and turned to see the girl he had seen last night carrying a tray. She was dressed in all black, most of her skin covered. Even her neck was wrapped in a thin black scarf. Remy noticed the two white stripes in her hair that he somehow hadn't noticed last night.

"Rogue over here!" Bobby called her over.

Rogue looked in his direction and gave a small smile and shook her head and then walked over to an empty table and sat down. Bobby shrank back into his seat with disappointment.

"Can you say Ice Queen?" Carol said laughingly.

"Don't call her that!" Bobby snapped angrily.

"Hey it's not my fault she shunned everyone she knows," Carol said defensively. "I mean come on, she dumps you and stops talking to everyone else. How cold can you get?"

Remy watched Rogue as she took off her gloves and began to pick at her food. She looked so lonely there sitting by herself. "Why she wear does gloves?" He asked.

"She can't touch," Carol answered. "At least not without the risk of killing whoever she touches."

"An y' were datin' her?" Remy asked turning to Bobby.

"Yeah," Carol answered for him. "But she dumped him a couple months ago, she dumped the rest of us too. Ever since Wolverine left she hasn't said so much a word to anyone."

"Carol" Bobby warned.

Carol didn't answer and kept on going, "She just sits by herself reading her little books."

Bobby was glaring at her now. "Stop."

"Some people say she's distant cuz she's got Magneto in her head and she's planning on leaving to join him just like John did."

"Shut up!"

Carol gave a fake sweet smile and opened her mouth to say more but Remy cut her off, "She got Magneto in her head?" He gave them puzzled looks.

"When Rogue touches someone she absorbs them," Kitty said quietly. All eyes turned to her. "She gets their thoughts, their feelings, and she even has their powers for a little while."

"And when did she touch Magneto?" He asked worriedly. Remy had been up against Magneto before, none of those encounters had been pleasant.

"Oh that's the best part," Carol chimed in. "You see when Rogue first came here, she came with a mutant named Wolverine. Wolverine can make claws come out of his hands and he heals himself, and on their first night here he stabbed her through the chest when she tried to wake him so he she absorbed his powers to heal herself and almost killed him in the process. But it freaked everyone out so much that she ran away right into Magneto who tried to use her to power this machine to turn humans into mutants. It took his power but would have killed him to do it, so he made Rogue take his power so she'd die instead." Carol sighed, "To bad it didn't work."

"Dat's terrible," Remy said, eyeing Rogue with sympathy.

If looks could kill Carol would have died a million time over by now from the glares she was getting from Bobby. Carol however was not intimidated and smiled sweetly at him and returned to her food only lifting her head when Remy picked up his tray and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Bobby asked.

"Remy gonna go talk to her," he stated.

"Many have tried," Carol said in a sing song voice. Then lowering her voice she added, "all have failed."

Bobby glared at her again and Kitty and Jubilee rolled their eyes. Piotr stared after Remy as he made his way over to Rogue's table. "Think she'll talk to him?" He asked.

Carol wasn't the only one to give him a doubtful look.


	3. The First Try

Chapter Three

The First Try

Rogue picked at her food, not really hungry. What she really wanted was to fall asleep right there at the table. She'd been up late last night trying to finish her book and then the newcomer came. She couldn't get the image of his eyes of out of her head. They were just so beautiful. The last time Rogue had seen anything so beautiful was when she was on Magneto's machine. The field of light it created would have fascinated Rogue if she hadn't been in so much pain. It just proves that beautiful things are often the most dangerous.

A shadow fell over Rogue and a voice asked, "Excusez-moi chere, but do y' mind if dis Cajun sits here?"

Rogue looked up at the speaker and her just stared. It was the man she had seen last night. He was wearing his sunglasses but she was sure it was him. After a few moments she regained herself and said, "Ah wont stop you, but you'll find it rather lonely at mah table."

He grinned and sat down across from her, "Well dats why Remy be sittin here, t' make de table seem less lonely. Y' must be Rogue non?"

"Yeah, how did you-?"

"Storm an' de iceman tell me who you were," the man said grinning. He motioned over to Bobby's table where the occupants were still watching him. Remy noticed the way Rogue quickly looked away from the table as soon as she saw him. "Dere a reason y' not be sittin wit dem?" He asked. "Remy know de iceman wanted y' to sit wit him today."

Rogue knew this person for not even a whole minute and was becoming aggravated already. She didn't like people asking her questions like that, "Ah'm sorry who are you?"

The man grinned, "De name be Gambit, but Remy Lebeau to' de ladies," he made a reach for her hand but she quickly pulled it away and reached for her gloves.

"Nothin personal," she mumbled. "It's just not safe to-" she paused, her eyes moving away from his towards the side of the table, "touch mah skin." Remy studied Rogue's face as if searching for something. This was making Rogue uncomfortable so she nodded to the direction of Bobby's table, "Ya should probably go sit with them now. They don't really like being ditched."

"Remy didn't ditch them," he said. "He just gave dem a rain check. He wanted to talk to you."

Rogue looked up at him in surprise, "Why?"

He shrugged grinning, "Jus' wanted t' know who was spying on moi last night."

"Ah wasn't spying on you!" She said defensively. "Ah just thought you were someone else!"

Remy put his hands up in surrender and said in a calming voice, "Sorry chere, didn't mean to make you upset, Remy jus' jokin. Though he really did want t' know who y' were. He was traveling all night, an' y' were de first belle fille he seen fo' awhile."

Rogue's face went red. She'd never taken any French classes but she knew what belle meant. "Ah have to go." She said suddenly and got up and began to walk away leaving her tray there."

"Chere wait," Remy called after her. "Wat Remy do?" But she didn't turn back and soon disappeared from the cafeteria. He didn't get it. When he called her belle his empathy detected her embarrassment which wasn't so uncommon for shy girls to feel when their called that, but he also felt another emotion that he didn't understand. _Fear._

Remy looked over at Ice Man's table giving them a confused look. Bobby forced a small smile and shrug, indicating his attempts to talk to Rogue had been the same. Most of the others at the table had the same expressions, except for Carol. Carol was smirking.

xXxXx

Rogue practically ran out of the cafeteria, not even bothering with her food, which she didn't mind. She wasn't hungry anyway. She just wanted to get away from that man. _To close_, Rogue thought. He had even tried to touch her hand, her _bare_ hand. Once out in the hall Rogue leaned against the cold wall and let her body sink to the floor. She'd been this close to absorbing another person. She knew that even if had touched her she probably would have been able to pull away before the pull started, but still. He didn't know who she was, he didn't have enough experience to know not to touch her, or fear her. It was almost refreshing to not be feared by someone, but she he just didn't know enough to fear.

"Rogue," Storm's voice came. Storm was walking down the hall carrying a vanilla colored folder. Her eyes were on Rogue, staring at her oddly. "What are you doing on the floor?"

"Sorry Ms. Munroe," Rogue said quickly standing up trying to find an excuse for being on the floor. "Ah just don't feel very well," she said. That's it! She would fake sick today. Then she'd get to stay in her room all day and away from people. "Do you think it would be alright if I just stayed in my room today?" She tried to make her voice sound as weak as possible.

Storm studied her for a minute unsure whether to let her or not. As good an actress as Rogue was Storm had no doubt this was just another one of Rogue's attempt to get away from people. Then Storm had an idea, "Actually Rogue I was wondering if you could help me."

Rogue stared at her in surprise, "How?"

Storm grinned and motioned to the folder, "Well since the X-Men have become short on people the Professor asked a few old friends to come and help run things until Logan and Scott return." She pulled some papers out of the folder that looked like applications and handed them to Rogue. "But its been a few years since they've been with us so we need to run danger room tests to make sure they can still handle themselves if the situation calls for it."

"So where do Ah come in," Rogue asked tearing her gaze away from the papers and looking back up to Storm.

"Well I some of these people will have to take over Jean and Scott's classes and I was hoping on getting a student's opinion on them." She smiled at Rogue. "If you volunteer you wont have to go to class all day, plus it'll count as your danger room session so you wont have to go this afternoon."

Rogue's face brightened, "All day?"

_Got her_, Storm thought happily. "Yes, but if your not feeling well then-"

"No its okay," Rogue immediately said. "I'll go."

Storm grinned and took the papers back from Rogue. Together the two of them made their way to the danger room. As they walked Storm began to slip the papers back into the folder. Each paper had a picture of the applicant on it and one of those pictures was of Gambit.


	4. The Files

A/N: Wow, third X-Men movie ruled! I'm a bit disappointed in their lack of Rogue though, but they made up for that with lots of Wolverine scenes and having Wolverine nearly get raped by Jean. That was classic, I loved it. So anyway, I guess this fic is now an AU cuz it doesn't follow the third movie but that's okay. Sorry for the long wait, I've been kinda lazy for the past few months, and I just graduated high school, so I'm going through a freak out phase where I have no idea what I'm going to do for the rest of my life and how I'm going to survive college and live away from home, but I'm slowly getting over it.

Chapter Four: The files

Rogue was sitting the control booth that overlooked the danger room. This was not the first time she had been up in the control booth. Her first time up there was right before her first danger room session. Students new to the danger room were required to sit in the control booth and observe the danger room sessions of another team of students or one of the teachers before they were allowed to a session themselves. There were other times also when on occasion a student challenged another student in the danger room. During such occasions a certain number of students and a supervising teacher were allowed to watch the challenges from the control booth, so Rogue was very used to the way things worked in the control booth.

Storm took a seat beside Rogue, files in hand. "It'll just be a few minutes," Storm informed Rogue, handing her the files. "Their still suiting up."

Rogue nodded and began flipping through the files, reading off each name in her head, _Henry McCoy, Elizabeth Braddock, Warren Worthington III, Remy Lebeau._ Rogue groaned inwardly. She recognized that last name, the name of the man who nearly touched her earlier that day. Rogue turned to Storm who was busy setting the program for the danger room, "So their all here auditioning to be X-Men?"

"Something like that," Storm replied as she finished with the settings. "Nearly all of them used to be X-Men, and two of them were on the original team."

"Really?" Rogue asked, surprised. "Which ones?"

Storm smiled, happy with Rogue's curiosity and told her, "Warren and Hank."

"Hank?"

"Henry McCoy," Storm said. "He looks a little different than he did when he was first apart of the team."

Rogue looked down at the picture attached to Henry McCoy's file. The man in the picture didn't look like a man at all, but more like something out of planet of the apes with the only difference being that his fur was blue. Despite the animal appearance Henry McCoy had a pleasant and friendly face. "He looked human once?" Rogue asked.

"Yes," Storm replied. "His could have easily passed his mutation off as family genes. His hands and feet were larger than most humans, and he has the strength and agility not common with most humans, but other than that he looked completely normal."

Rogue stared at the picture, feeling a small amount of pity for this man. "What happened?"

"Well," Storm continued. "Hank spent a lot of time trying to come up with a serum that would suppress his mutation but instead of making it go away he made it come back stronger than ever."

Rogue brushed her gloved finger over the picture, feeling a twinge of sympathy for him, "poor man," she muttered under her breath.

Moving on, she looked over the files of the other participants. Warren Worthington III, codenamed: Angel. Apparently he was the son of multimillionaire Warren Worthington II and had also inherited his father's company. Angel had the ability of flight thanks to the use of a pair of white wings, also giving him the appearance of an angel. Rogue looked at the picture attached and couldn't help but smile. Warren Worthington was possibly one of the most beautiful men she had ever seen, with a full head of blond hair, and clean shaved face, strong chin, and the most beautiful sky blue eyes.

Storm noticed the smile on Rogue's face and laughed, "Handsome isn't he?" she asked, leaning over to look at the picture. Rogue couldn't help but nod. "Jean and I thought so too. He sure gave Scott a run for his money when were all students here."

Rogue couldn't suppress her surprise at this news. She looked up at Storm with an astounded look. "Jean and this guy?" She asked unbelievably.

"Yes," Storm grinned. "Didn't last long though. They went on a few dates and then Jean decided it didn't feel right. A month later she and Scott became an item."

"Wow," Rogue mused. "I really can't see Miss Grey with anyone but Scott." _Well except for maybe Logan_, Rogue added silently in her head.

"I know," Storm said in a quiet voice. Rogue knew immediately that she was thinking about Miss Grey now, and how much she missed her. Rogue felt bad for her teachers, all of them. She missed Miss Grey too. Everyone did.

Feeling uncomfortable with the grieving silence, Rogue decided it best to move on to the next participant. She looked at the next file and read the name out loud, "Elizabeth Braddock, aka Psylocke." The picture attached was that of a woman with long purple hair. She was very beautiful and looked to be in her mid twenties. The file said that she was a native of England and her brother Brian Braddock was also a mutant. Her power was telepathy. Although it was pretty strong, it was no where near a match for the Professor's or even the late Jean Grey.

Rogue moved on to the last file. The one she didn't really want to look at. Remy Lebeau, codenamed: Gambit. The picture attached gave her a full view of his red on black eyes, and like he had been the night he came, Gambit was wearing his long brown leather trench coat, but underneath the coat Rogue recognized the leather X-Men uniform. "Ah guess he really likes that coat," Rogue said out loud. "Enough to wear it out on missions anyway."

"You have no idea," Storm replied, amusement in her voice.

Rogue continued to read his file. His powers gave him the ability to kinetically charge any object he touched, making it explode, and he was also capable of sensing the emotions of others and even on occasion he was able to manipulate those emotions and make people feel what he wanted them to feel, much like a telepath could do with thoughts. The file stated that he referred to this ability as his "charm."

"Here they come," Storm said suddenly, her head nodding to the danger room door as it slid open.

Rogue tore her eyes away from the file she was reading and looked to the four figures emerging from the door. Henry McCoy, aka Beast walked in first, full of confidence, looking around the danger room as if it were an old friend that he hadn't seen in a long time. Following close behind him was Angel, looking as confident as Beast with a look of firm determination on his face. He reminded Rogue much of Cyclops the students watched him and the X-Men do their rounds in the Danger Room. A few feet behind him was Psylocke, who looked like she could care less about what was in the danger room but more about what was in front of her, mainly Angel's butt. Gambit, who was right next to Psylocke seemed to notice this and gave a whistle. When Angel and Beast turned to look at him he just pointed at Psylocke, who gave him a playful glare.

"Some things never change," Storm mused shaking her head.

The four participants walked to the middle of the danger room, each looking up at the overhanging control booth, waiting for things to get started. Each one of them wore an X-Men uniform, as was required even for non x-men members to wear in the danger room. Gambit, Rogue noticed was wearing his coat over his uniform just like he had been in the picture, and Beast's uniform was actually just a pair of leather pants that still seemed to small.

Storm pressed a combination of keys on the computer keyboard and then the lights of the danger room changed, a feminine British voice spoke, _"Sentinel Program Level six, commence"_

Rogue looked over at Storm and asked, "What's a sentinel?"


End file.
